Established in 1946, the GFO library has over 32,000 volumes that include a large genealogical collection for U.S. states and several foreign countries. For many years members have generously donated books to the library, and books are purchased to supplement the donations. This results in an eclectic collection with something for everyone. The collection of family history books is larger than any other collection in the region.

The GFO volunteers have indexed numerous Oregon resources and placed the indexes on the website. Click here for the list of indexed items. See the search box on the main GFO page.

Significant Oregon Genealogical Sources

Census: all federal Oregon censuses and indexes.

City directories: Portland directories and some directories for other Oregon cities. Old Oregon phonebooks supplement the directory collection.

Land records: Oregon Donation Land Claim case ﬁles on microﬁlm, Bureau of Land Management plat and tract on microﬁlm. The Forum abstracted and indexed the Oregon Donation Land Claims.

Large book collection of Oregon county histories, cemetery books, vital record books.

Multnomah County, Oregon Foreign Born Voter Registrations, on microﬁlm.

Multnomah County, Oregon marriage certiﬁcates (the originals), 1855 to 1924. The Forum prepared an index to the 1855 to 1906 records. An online index to a number of these volumes is on the society’s website, and the Research Committee will make copies of entries for a modest fee.

Multnomah County, Oregon marriage indexes (the original books), 1855 to 1975:

Oregon vital records indexes on film and fiche: deaths from 1903 to 1998, marriages from 1971 to 1998, divorces from 1946 to 1998.

Spencer Leonard Civil War Card File of Civil War Veterans Who Lived in Oregon. Contains vital information. An online index to this collection is on the society’s website, and the Research Committee will make copies of entries for a modest fee.

World War I Oregon Draft Registration microﬁlm. The Forum created an index to the ﬁlms.

Unusual resources:

Almanach de Gotha.

DAR lineage books.

Domesday books and indexes.

French Canadian collection: vital record books and periodicals, as well as a copy of Jette’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec.

Merrill Mosher Virginia collection: Merrill Mosher, CG, a Virginia research specialist, donated her Virginia book and manuscript collection to the GFO library. It also includes materials from South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Passenger arrival indexes. The book collection is one of the finest in the area.

Periodicals: largest collection of genealogical periodicals in the region.

The Library has a large genealogical collection on the third floor. All books are listed in the on-line catalog. Newspapers and censuses on microfilm are located on the second floor. The library’s online databases include HeritageQuest™ and the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps.

Significant Oregon Genealogical Sources

City directories: Portland, 1863 to 1990s and other miscellaneous cities.

Newspaper Index card ﬁle: “The Library Association of Portland Newspaper Index” includes citations for several Portland newspapers and miscellaneous Oregon biographies from the 1920s to 1987.

Newspaper: The Oregonian and the Oregon Journal on microﬁlm. The Oregonian from the late 1980s to the present is online on the computer database.

Oregon Biography Clippings (Eight notebooks, indexed).

Oregon vital records indexes: deaths from 1903 to the present, marriages from 1971 to the present, divorces from 1971 to the present.

Other Genealogical Sources

American Genealogical Biographical Index. Many books that are cited in this index are in the library’s collection.

Boston Transcript newspaper on microﬁche.

Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy.

Our French, Canadian Ancestors.

Passenger indexes: the standard Filby and Germans to American and Italians to America, etc. Also Rassmussen’s San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists and Overland Train Passenger Lists.

The Society, founded in 1892, has accumulated the largest Oregon collection in the state. The Library’s emphasis is on the settlement and development of Oregon, including localities, fur trade, missionary and pioneer activities, and Indian history. It oﬀers more than 32,000 books, 25,000 maps, 12,000 linear feet of manuscripts, 3,000 serials titles, 5,000 vertical ﬁles, 16,000 reels of newspaper microﬁlm, 8.5 million feet of ﬁlm and videotape, 10,000 oral history tapes, and more than 2.5 million photographs.

Significant Oregon Genealogical Sources

Biography Card File. Created in the 1930s by the Work Progress Administration (WPA), this finding aid indexes pioneers and provides brief biographical information. Among the materials covered are the Indian Wars Pension Papers, a scrapbook collection of newspaper clippings, and vital-statistics cards for many events prior to 1900 that were mentioned in Oregon newspapers.

DAR Collection. The Oregon Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, collected genealogical materials include records of pioneers, cemeteries, and churches as well as Bibles, genealogies, probate extracts, mortuary lists, and vital statistics.

Manuscript Collection. The collection consists of eight thousand linear feet of rare books, wagon-train diaries, correspondence, letter books, speeches, business records, church registers, etc., together with a card catalog by name and subject.

Map Collection. Over fifteen thousand maps in the library focus on Western exploration; many treat Oregon exclusively. Other useful map series include the Metsker Atlases that show land ownership since 1928 and the Sanborn Insurance company maps that depict buildings in various Oregon cities since 1884.

Microfilm Collection. Over ten thousand rolls of this collection constitute the second-largest newspaper file in the state. Census holdings include all available federal population schedules for the state and all provisional and territorial censuses. A card index to pre-statehood census enumerations is interfiled in the Provisional and Territorial Records index. Various churches also have submitted records and histories for filming.

The Overland Journeys Card Index. This portion of the society’s card catalog refers researchers to published materials and manuscripts owned by the society—exclusive of the wagon-train diaries. Among the collections covered by this card index are the Oregon Pioneer Association records (bound volumes), which give much information on the early pioneers.

Pioneer Card File. Information on these cards comes from transcribed questionnaires issued to pioneer descendants at annual Oregon Pioneer Association meetings; notes taken by Judge Charles H. Carey, one-time president of the Society and author of several histories of the state; and materials donated to the Society by the Lane County Pioneer Association.

Provisional and Territorial Papers Index. This surname and topical index covers an 80-reel microfilmed edition of the Papers of the Oregon Provisional and Territorial Governments, spanning the years 1843 to 1859.

A large collection of U.S. genealogical materials is located on the second floor. Members of the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society staff the genealogical area.

Significant Oregon Genealogical Sources

Microfilm collection. The State Library has filmed copies of all extant provisional, territorial, and federal censuses for Oregon (including the 1850-80 miscellaneous schedules of the federal censuses and indexes for the federal population schedules); a set of the Oregon Vital Records Indexes, previously discussed; and filmed copies of many manuscripts held by the Oregon State Archives. A brief guide to the library’s special collections is online.

Oregon Index. Three-quarter million cards cover primarily newspapers and periodicals—arranged in a Biography Index (180 drawers), a Subject Index (over 400 drawers), and a WPA Index (12 drawers). Name and subject entries cover Portland and Salem newspapers held by the library. Most of the index entries are for the 1900s.

The Oregon State Archives is custodian of the permanently valuable records of Oregon government. They also provide online access to the Oregon Blue Book and the state’s administrative rules. The twenty-five thousand cubic feet of records that it holds includes provisional- and territorial-government records; military rosters and files; naturalization, probate, and trial-court proceedings; vital registrations; prison files; institutional records; and tax rolls. A number of the genealogically significant holdings have been microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and can be found in the Family History Library catalog. An online Oregon Historical Records Index provides index access to selected records that can be ordered online from the Archive.

Significant Oregon Genealogical Sources

Biographical Card File. Among the more useful record groups indexed in this finding aid are provisional and territorial censuses, some marriage indexes, state supreme-court cases, donation land claims, and miscellaneous provisional records.

Censuses. This collection includes the original provisional, territorial, and state-government enumerations of Oregon, some of which have been microfilmed. It also includes filmed copies of all extant population schedules of the Oregon decennial federal censuses, as well as those conducted under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Provisional and Territorial Government Records. Dating prior to 1859, these include a variety of materials of genealogical value—principally military, probate, land, and marriage records. They cover both county-level and provisional-and territorial-level resources, including those of counties cut away to create Washington Territory in 1853. The archives staff has compiled and published a print and online Guide to Oregon Provisional and Territorial Government Records and has microfilmed most of the documents in eighty reels.

Vital Records. The archives holds a copy of the microfilmed Oregon Vital Records Indexes, covering marriages for the periods 1906–24, 1946–60 and 1966 to the present; death registrations from 1903 to the present; and divorce registrations for 1956–60 and 1966 to the present.